


Full Circle

by celticheart72



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Anxiety, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Inner Dialogue, Kira does not like ofc at first, Odo/ofc developing relationship will be focus of fic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sexual Content, Undercover Missions, past dub con relationship, past dukat/ofc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2020-10-25 11:07:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20723207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celticheart72/pseuds/celticheart72
Summary: Saren Oie was once a reluctant resident of Terok Nor, accused collaborator, and mistress of the Prefect of Bajor. She returned to Starfleet after the Occupation ended and security issues within her former home prompt a reassignment to the space station now known as Deep Space Nine. While there she reconnects with old friends and adversaries and struggles to work through her past while exploring a new relationship.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> No warnings for this chapter
> 
> A/N: The explicit rating is set for future chapters as there will be sexual content at some point. The dub con tag applies only to the past relationship Saren had with Gul Dukat.
> 
> 6/12/20 A/N: Chapter 1 has undergone a POV and some minor story edits. If you have read before they are not significant enough to change the plot.

Saren steps through the door leading from the airlock onto the lower level of the Promenade. Her eyes sweep over the various beings milling about as she takes it all in. People are smiling and happy. It’s bright and full of life. 

Far different from the way it was when she left a few years ago at the end of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor. It’s Deep Space Nine now. Not Terok Nor. 

She vowed never to set foot on this space station ever again.

Starfleet had other ideas and she was sent in to be the Communications Officer. Officially anyway. 

With a sigh Saren pulls her bag further up over her shoulder and starts making her way to Ops where she’ll find Commander Sisko. 

From her outward demeanor people might believe she’s indifferent to her surroundings, indifferent to the things that happened here. 

Saren snorts softly as she continues to look around. She;s far from indifferent to her surroundings. 

Every step she takes threatens to pull her under a wave of emotions and memories she doesn’t want. Saren may not normally be an anxious person, but she still hasn't come to terms with everything that happened here. Not the choices she had to make, or the consequences of those choices. 

One thing her time on Terok Nor taught her though? How to hide her true feelings. Even now, a little over two years later she still holds her emotions close.

Her superiors have described Saren as eerily Vulcan-like and unreadable, lacking in emotion. Starfleet Medical determined her fit for duty after a week of debriefing and counseling when she returned to her commission after leaving Terok Nor. 

Perhaps the Cardassians taught her too well. The Obsidian Order would be proud.

“Tahna?”

The familiar voice brings a smile to her face and she turns to face an old friend. “Hello, Odo.”

He looks both shocked and happy to see her as his blue eyes take in the Starfleet uniform and gold material covering her shoulders. “You returned to Starfleet?”

“I didn’t really have anywhere else to go now did I?” Saren absently touches her finger to the ridges above her nose. 

Ridges she’s agonized endlessly over possibly removing.

“No, I suppose not.” His hands shift behind his back and he drops his eyes. “Does Major Kira know you’re here?”

Saren shrugs, “I have no idea. I’m to report to Commander Sisko tomorrow morning.”

The gruff humming sound Odo makes as he bobs his head is so familiar and comforting that it instantly calms her racing heart. “You’re early.”

“Of course I am.”

He smiles with a shake of his head. “Of course you are. Come to my office, I’ll check on your quarters assignment.”

Her face goes blank as she pushes unwanted memories away and stares straight ahead while they walk. “Can it be on the other side of the habitat ring?”

Even though he will swear he doesn’t have a heart, out of her periphery she catches the look of compassion that crosses his face as he nods. “Of course, Tahna.”

Saren lets out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She swallows back the trepidation present since receiving her orders and smiles grimly at Odo. “I dropped Tahna.”

“What?!”

“It’s Bajoran, Odo.”

He rolls his eyes as he makes his way into his office with Saren following behind him. Fortunately, it was one of the few places she felt safe during the Occupation. 

After dropping her bag in one of the chairs in front of his console she sits in the other as he drops down in his own. Craning her head around behind him, she looks for his pail. 

She spent hours in here talking to him while he was regenerating and she couldn’t sleep. Looking back it probably annoyed him to no end but he never complained. He also never said anything about the things she told him during those sleepless nights.

The sound of his voice brings her out of the memory and she returns her focus to him. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked what you’re calling yourself now.”

“Saren Oie.”

“Hmmmmm...Oie? Wasn’t that your father’s name?”

“Yes.” She studies her nails while he works at his console, searching for her quarters assignment. “It made sense. I don’t know that his people had family names so I just chose to use the only thing I ever heard him called as my surname.”

“So, Lieutenant Oie then?”

Lifting her fingers she runs them over the pips on her collar. The black one reduced her rank so she wouldn’t outrank Sisco’s Bajoran second officer. A necessity for this particular assignment. With a smile she looks up at Odo whose eyes are focused on her fingers. “Yes, but only when I’m on duty.” 

“Alright, Saren.” He hums and nods before his eyes return to his console. “Well, it looks like you’re assigned to quarters next to mine. Which is on the other side of the habitat ring.”

“You have your own quarters now?” No wonder she couldn’t find his pail.

“A lot of things have changed since you’ve been gone.”

Her eyes move around the room then return to Odo who is watching her with some level of curiosity, “It’s very different now, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” He hums again, bobbing his head and lacing his fingers in front of him. “They are. I think you are as well.”

They stare at each other over the console for longer than Saren cares to acknowledge. Finally, she closes her eyes and rolls her shoulders before looking back at him. “Of course I am, Odo.”

And suddenly, all she wants to do is sleep. To crawl into her bed and forget everything that happened in the last few years. The only problem with that is if she does she’d forget the man in front of her as well and she definitely doesn’t want to forget him.

She just has to keep reminding herself this isn’t Terok Nor anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS: none
> 
> 6/12/20 A/N: Chapters 1&2 have undergone a POV and some minor story edits. If you have read before they are not significant enough to change the plot.

“I was starting to wonder if Starfleet was ignoring my request for a Communications Officer.” 

Saren’s eyes follow Commander Sisko’s movements as he sits behind his desk, tossing a baseball of all things back and forth between his hands. He’s amiable with a warm smile and she wonders if when all is said and done that he’ll be as friendly as he is right now.

She shakes her head. “No. But your request was fairly specific and xenolinguistics specialists aren’t as common as they once were. Universal translators have almost made us obsolete. I had to finish my last assignment before I could transfer here.”

Not a lie. But also not the entire truth.  _ I hate this _ , she thinks to herself.

His eyes focus on his baseball for a few seconds before turning back to Saren and he smiles. “If that’s the case what prompted you to focus on xenolinguistics?”

Her face lights up automatically as it always does when she gets the chance to talk about what made her want to study alien languages. 

“My father was from a remote planet in the Delta Quadrant. When he came to Alpha even the UTs couldn’t work out his language. His people are xenophobic but he was a traveler. He loved new people, new languages, new customs. And he passed that on to me.”

Sisko points at her nasal ridges. “You’re not Bajoran?”

“Ah, my mother was,” she rubs the lowest ridge. For probably the millionth time since Starfleet notified Saren of her orders to Deep Space 9 she thinks about removing them. 

She’s also torn as to what to tell Sisko, if anything, about her history here.

“Well then, I think it’s time Ops meets you.” Sisko starts to stand but she holds out a hand to stop him.

“There’s something you need to know first.”

One eyebrow arches as he pushes to his feet and Saren stands along with him. “What? That you were here when this place belonged to the Cardassians?”

So Kira has already been talking.

“It seems that my First Officer is not very fond of you.” He turns his head to glance at Saren before he reaches the door of his office. “Is  _ that  _ going to be a problem?”

She shakes her head with a light purse of her lips. “Not for me.”

His smile is wide and he seems especially pleased. Like he expects her to keep a promise. “Good.”

When Kira looks up and sees Saren standing next to Sisko she can almost hear Kira’s back stiffen. There’s a female Trill and two male humans in Starfleet uniforms along with Odo and several Bajoran militia officers at various stations. All of them look directly at Saren when they realize Kira isn’t happy.

“Everyone.” Sisko has a calm, even tone and Saren’s heart almost seizes. 

She can already feel the pain of losing any potential friendships she might have made here. 

“I want you to meet our new Communications Officer, Lieutenant Commander Saren Oie.”

Kira’s eyes narrow on Saren as she’s introduced to the rest of the staff. Some of the Bajorans are cold, others don’t seem particularly bothered by her presence. 

Most of her first official shift on DS9 is spent with Jadzia Dax who seems amused by the others' reactions toward Saren. That makes her think Dax probably knows more than she’s letting on and might not believe everything she’s heard. When the day is over she winks at Saren and takes Kira’s elbow to pull her away to the turbolift before the Major can confront Saren. It’s coming, she knows it is, but she appreciates Dax’s efforts nonetheless. 

Saren starts out intending to head straight to her quarters. Somehow she winds up on the Promenade and before she realizes it is stepping through the door of Quark’s bar. It looks different. 

Just like the Promenade, it’s more colorful than it used to be. People are laughing, loud and boisterous, drinking, and gambling. Better yet, there are no Cardassians in sight.

“Tahna?” Quark’s voice is unmistakable and she turns toward the sound. He sets the tray he’s carrying down and greets her in the traditional Ferengi way by putting his wrists together with his fingers curled inward.

Saren does the same with a fond smile then sits in an empty seat at the bar. “It’s not Tahna any more, Quark.”

He looks stricken by that. “You didn’t?”

The sound she makes is somewhere between an amused snort and a disgusted growl. “Hardly. I took my father’s name. It’s Saren Oie now.”

Quark rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “You aren’t a collaborator.”

“I know that, Quark.” She watches as he pours a few drinks and passes them off to one of the waiters, then starts mixing a drink on the bar in front of her. “It was just better this way.”

When the drink is done he pushes it toward Saren and taps the rim. Swirls of luminescent orange and gold appear in the clear liquid before it settles to a dark gold. He gives her a pointed look. “For them? Or for you?”

Her finger touches the rim of the glass and circles it. During the occupation the colors of the Samarian Sunsets Quark made were one of the few things that brought a smile to her face. She’s touched that he remembers how much she likes them. Though she doesn’t let her emotions show, Quark’s eyes tell her that he understands more than he might express.

“For me, Quark. For me.” Saren isn’t really sure if it’s him she’s trying to convince or herself as she picks up the drink.

**Author's Note:**

> If you like my work kudos are appreciated. If you love it comments are wonderful. If you have constructive criticism or questions let's talk. If you leave blatantly rude or negative comments, know that no hate is allowed here and will be deleted. And if you read my work and are too shy to interact right now, know that's okay too.
> 
> Just a general A/N regarding all of my work: Please understand that I update when writing inspiration hits. I never intend on abandoning an unfinished fic, so know that if I do I'll eventually get back to it when inspiration strikes again.


End file.
